“She is coming for you, Kaiyer. She knows you live! Find our daughter. Protect her or everything you love will be destroyed by her malice. Go to the Radicle and bring her back!” Nadea’s face pressed against the bars of my cell, but her eyes glowed a strange silver light in the darkness. She spoke in the old language of my memories.
“Iolarathe.”
I never thought I would hear her voice again and the fine hairs all over my body stood up in goosebumps and my blood froze with fear. As abruptly as the wind began it stopped and the torches flickered back to light.
“By the Dead Gods, what was that?” the male Elven guard asked from behind Nadea. My friend looked at me with horror on her face and then glanced over her shoulder.
“Go check the top of the dungeon. We may be under attack!” The guards nodded at her command and sprinted to my left down the hallway. Their boot steps rang off the stone walls and then I heard a door open and slam shut.
“That has never happened before. It was her. She took control of my voice.” Nadea covered her face with her hands. “I want her to stop. Can you make her stop? I was going to tell you at the camp, but Isslata arrived before I had the chance. I have dreams of a beautiful woman. Her hair is red like fire, her skin paler than fresh snow. She told me where to find you. That was how I knew. She still comes to me in my dreams. I did what she asked, but she still haunts me.”
“How long have you had these dreams?” I would not have believed it if I had not just seen it with my own eyes and heard it with my own ears.
“Since I was a child. I never spoke to anyone about her. At first, I would just see her in my dreams and the memories would fade when I awoke. A few years before I found you, the messages became more urgent and they almost felt sinister. She was frustrated with me.”
“She told you how to find my Radicle?”
“Yes. She gave me the words to say to bring you back. They were in a language I did not understand, but they contained your name. I lied to my father and the king. I told them that I found documents that alluded to finding the O’Baarni, but I needed someone to translate them.”
“That was why you needed Paug.” I filled in the rest of the story.
“Yes. Now he is dead.” Her voice cracked.
“That isn’t your fault. It is Nanos’s and he will be held accountable next week.”
“Aye.” She nodded and sighed again. “I remember the words. I don’t understand them; I don’t believe Paug even understood them, but your Iolarathe comes to me in my dreams and now she speaks through me. Who is she talking about? Someone knows you are alive and wants your daughter?”
“Shlara? But she could not still be alive.”
“You are.”
I nodded and felt my stomach drop.
“Could your daughter still be alive?” Nadea asked.
“I remember tracking Iolarathe to a Radicle, tended to by an old Elven man. He said two women had been there just before I arrived, and the younger one had my eye color. She went through the Radicle, but the older woman did not follow. Many years later, just before Iolarathe was killed, I finally found her. She was on a quest to find one of the globes that powers the Radicles. She needed one to save our daughter.”
“The Ovule?” Nadea asked.
“Yes.”
“Jessmei mentioned them. Telaxthe is teaching her how to use them.” She pursed her lips in thought and then nodded to herself. “If your daughter is alive, could you use the words Iolarathe taught me to bring her back?”
“I would also need her name, and an Ovule. I know the world she was sent to, but she may have moved from there.” I thought through the process and felt a pang of hopelessness.
“I didn’t need an Ovule. I just said the words and you faded into focus like I was awaking from a dream. You were still asleep on the dais, so I called Paug into the cave and asked him to repeat the words a few more times with me until you awoke. Is it possible you don’t need the Ovule either?” A flicker of excitement lit her brown eyes. This was a puzzle Nadea would love to solve, probably as much as I would.
“It is possible. But the other variables are still a problem.”
She nodded. The massive doors to the dungeon opened and we heard footsteps approaching. Nadea’s guards were returning with others.
“I can try to dream of her tonight. I’ll ask her.”
“Even if there was a miracle, and you were able to speak with her across the afterlife, I am leaving tomorrow morning.”
“So you are just going to give up?” She snorted and shook her head. The footsteps grew closer. I recognized Fehalda’s scent. “That does not sound like you.”
“If she is alive, I have to see her. I will not give up.” A lump formed in my throat and I fought to keep it out of my stomach. I wondered what the child would look like, and the desire to meet her forced out the shadows of despair that my exile had recently created. “If you can’t get to me before I leave tomorrow, please document whatever you learn from your dreams. I will return.” The approaching guards were close enough to hear us, so I was careful to watch my words. Nadea nodded and her face cracked slightly with a smirk.
“You are done.” Fehalda walked in front of the group of fifteen guards.
“I am done when I say I am done, Auntie.” Nadea chuckled at the last word and Fehalda gritted her teeth.
“Then say you are done now so I don’t have to drag you out of here by the hair.”
I thought Nadea would continue to argue with Fehalda and the brief flicker of surprise that crested the white woman’s face made me believe that she had assumed the same.
“I will not speak to Jessmei. Perhaps we will see each other again one day.” She licked her lips and sighed. For a second her beautiful face was hard to read and I wondered if she really believed that I would return. I wondered if she wanted me to.
“I will always be grateful to have met you. Thank you for bringing me back to life.” I pulled her hand through the bar of my cell and kissed her wrist gently. The movement made her exhale sharply and she turned from me without another word.
Then she walked out of the dungeon without looking back.
A few of Fehalda’s guards followed Nadea out, but the remainder stayed with the white-haired woman. After the footsteps faded and the door to the dungeon closed she faced me and the fury on her face was plain.
“What the fuck did you do?” She almost spat through the cell doors.
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t be coy with me, O’Baarni. The wind? The noises? Are you planning something with the duchess?”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“I will celebrate the moment you fade through the Radicle with Turnia.”
“I might actually miss you. Are you going to be escorting your sister on our journey to the Radicle?” The question seemed to catch the general off guard and she licked her lips carefully before answering.
“Perhaps. It has not been decided yet. What is also under deliberation is your visit with the princess. After hearing of your little trick with the duchess, my sister is unsure she should trust you with the future queen.”
“She agreed to let me see Jessmei.” I exhaled and tried to keep my arms from ripping the bars out of the cell walls.
“You said you would behave and cooperate.”
“Am I not? I don’t know what happened in the dungeon. Perhaps your sister should ask her daughter.” I pushed myself away from the bars and stepped back to my cot.
“I’ll return.” She waited a few moments for me to reply but I covered my eyes with the nook of my arm. I did not know what I would do if Telaxthe prevented me from seeing Jessmei. I had no leverage. A few impossibly foolish scenarios sprinted through my head as the footsteps of Fehalda and her soldiers echoed down the hallway and faded into silence. Then I was alone in the dim light of the dungeon torches and the silence of the bare, cold stone.
“Kaiyer?” Jessmei’s voice was timid. I must have fallen asleep, because I had not heard her walk into the dungeon. I spun out of the cot and struggled to embrace her through the bars of my cell.
“I was supposed to have an escort, but Nadea told me that they might not let me come, so she distracted them while I sneaked away. We probably only have a few minutes before they search down here.”
“I am so grateful I can see you once more. I told Nadea I was sorry and I want to apologize to you as well.” She was wearing a light-blue gown that reflected some of the torchlight in a hue that I doubted normal human eyes could see. Flowers and hummingbirds danced across the fabric and I guessed that Telaxthe’s private tailor had crafted the gown for Jessmei. Her face bore none of the ambivalence of Nadea’s. She was not bitter or angry with me, she was only sad.
“Why are you leaving? Telaxthe said you are returning to your own world. Is this not your world?” Her hair was bound down her back in a series of complicated braids tied off with snow-white pearls. Her cheeks were accented with red dye and the same shade was painted onto her full lips. For a moment I didn’t want to answer her, I only wanted to study her beautiful face so I would be able to remember everything about her.
“I have a daughter. I never knew her and the empress has agreed to tell me more if I will leave this world.”
“Oh. I see.” She pursed her lips and a faint hint of disappointment crossed her features. “This was with the woman in your memories?”
“Yes.”
“Wouldn’t your daughter be long dead by now? Perhaps I am speaking selfishly, but I don’t understand why you would leave us just for a shred of information about her.” Her words came out smoothly, but I sensed the undertone of bitterness and jealousy.
“There is a chance that she could still be alive. At least, Nadea has given me that hope.”
“How?” Her ice-blue eyes narrowed.
“I was kept in some sort of stasis in the Radicle that kept me alive through millennia. Nadea awoke me from it, and there is a chance I could do the same for my daughter.”
“Nadea just told you this?” She crossed her slender arms over her breasts.
“Yes.”
“But you made the decision to leave before you spoke with her?”
“Yes, but—”
“I love you, Kaiyer,” she interrupted me. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to spend every night in your arms and make beautiful children with you. But I also love my kingdom. I have a duty to protect my people from any threat and ensure prosperity for them. I am willing to sacrifice my happiness for my friends and family. Are you not willing to do the same?”
“Are you asking me to choose you over my daughter?” Jessmei’s eyes were cold and hard. What had happened to her in the last few months?
“No. You already made that choice before you had any hope she might live. I want you to understand how much I love you, how much you hurt me, and that I am giving you the chance to change your mind. Stay here. I will speak to the empress. She needs me, she will agree to my request. With you at my side, our kingdom will be strong. I will no longer fear vipers beneath my bed. I will give you more children so that you will forget about a daughter you never knew, a daughter who has long since passed away.”
Her voice was smooth and controlled. She had rehearsed this speech. The naïve princess I had known was gone, replaced by a powerful queen.
“This will put you in danger. Kannath’s sister is here to find out what happened to her brother. They will take me back to stand before their Council, so that I may be judged and punished. If I remain here, the clans will soon follow Turnia and the O’Baarni will punish you for harboring a Pretender.”
“I know that Turnia is in the castle. I can work this out with the empress. They have not yet spoken; the story can be spun to our advantage.” She paused and looked to her right down the dark hallway of the dungeon as if to make sure no one could overhear our conversation.
“We are alone,” I confirmed.
“I will tell Turnia that Fehalda killed Kannath, and that you are not a Pretender. The wrath of your people will be brought down upon the Elvens. We will solve two problems at once: the empress will be wiped from this world, and Turnia will leave you alone. You could stay.” I was surprised at the ruthlessness of her plan and the ease with which she spoke of betraying Telaxthe.
“They are taking me tomorrow. How will you get Turnia alone before then? What if she does not believe you? If Telaxthe finds out, she will kill you.” I thought through the plan as I spoke and could not shake the overwhelming sense of dread at allowing the princess to take such a great risk.
Then I realized I was foolish to think it was up to me to let her do anything.
“If the first part of your plan succeeds and the O’Baarni remove the Elvens from your world, you may be exchanging one master for another. I suspect that humans are not treated much better than Elvens by the O’Baarni.”
“But the O’Baarni were once humans. Surely, they will treat us fairly?” I could tell that she was considering my words carefully.
“Has the empress treated you fairly?”
“Yes. Better than I expected. But I have something she needs.” Jessmei flashed white teeth against the torch light.
“What?”
“The magic of the ancient O’Baarni. Not your people. There was an even older race that, according to Telaxthe, knew powerful magic and could use the Radicle without any external power source. She said that I am one of their descendants and she has been working with me daily to help me master these powers.”